Many people learn to cook by watching and helping a more experienced cook. Today that is enhanced by a myriad of cooking shows–(food even has its own network!), seaching the Internet, buying scores of magazines and occasionally even reading a cookbook.

Something happened last Friday that has never happened in all the years Tom and I have been a couple.
As he was readying for work, I asked him what he wanted for dinner that night.
Usually he asks me what his options are, but this time without pause he answered.
“Meatloaf….or sloppy joes.”
After I got over the initial shock, I filed the info away, went to work and forgot about it.
But as the time approached for me to leave that afternoon, the thought of cooking dinner came back.
Now, I am not a meatloaf fan.

For all intents and purposes, I am not a breakfast eater in the true sense of the word. I don’t eat eggs, gravy or grits and those are pretty much the foundation for breakfast–especially in the South.
I do, however, like to eat sometime before noon and of course, my preferences tend to run on the sweet side of things. A doughnut, a Pop Tart or a bagel with strawberry cream cheese all fit the bill nicely to go with my three cups of morning coffee.

My Grandma Nora made the best biscuits I’ve ever tasted.
They were light, flaky and had a unique extra something that made them stand apart from other biscuits.
My mother made a good biscuit too–hers were of the cat head variety: big, golden brown and crusty on top and bottom and tender and fluffy on the inside.
It’s no wonder that I spent the next four decades trying to emulate the Queens of Biscuit–and each time, coming up sadly short.

Most people would think that I am the size I am because of my incredible sweet tooth. Everyone who knows me understands that I cannot say no to a Reese’s Cup, a Key Lime Pie or Paula Deen’s Pound Cake.
But the truth is, while I love my sweets, I love bread just as much.
There’s nothing more savory than hot bread slathered in a pound of butter. And because I don’t discriminate, cold bread with butter, or peanut butter, is pretty darn good too.
Aside from cheese biscuits, light and fluffy yeast rolls are by far my favorite bread type.

My mother was an excellent cook, as was her mother before her, and probably her mother before her. It’s what women did back then–they took care of home and hearth and in the days before restaurants were tres chic, they cooked big, nourishing meals to feed big families.